Tuesday, 23 December 2008

I know, it's been over two months since I posted here, so as a rather pathetic Xmas present to anybody who is still bothering to read this blog, here are some very old photos that have been lurking the camera for some time now.

I didn't make a big Thanksgiving dinner this year but still had to do something so cooked a pheasant that my neighbour gave me and made a pumpkin pie (and of course roasted pumpkin seeds!). In a way, pheasant is really a more appropriate bird for me to be eating at Thanksgiving than turkey as they are what lives semi-wild on my mountain, whereas even the most free-range organic turkey I could buy would still be farmed...

Ages and ages ago, I planted some melon seeds in the greenhouse, and I did actually manage to get two of the world's smallest melons -- quite tasty, but only a very few mouthfuls!

Now that the sheep are all gone, I've let the next farmer up the lane put his sheep on my fields -- it looks very odd to see white sheep at Bwlchyrhyd!

And this is the very small apple harvest -- I know these apples look a bit odd and manky, but they were SO incredibly juicy and delicious!

Off to make some root vegetable soup now. I think there will be some exciting things happening in the new year, and I will write about them here when they do. Also, Bridget has finally got her computer back from the shop, and as soon as I go down there and show her how to blog, you will have news from Banc Olive as well -- and Bridget will be starting lambing before long!

Monday, 20 October 2008

Yes folks, that's right, you saw it here first... After not using the wood burner in the lounge for the last three years because I was advised by a plumber that it was dangerous, a friend came round the other day and had a look at it and said that it looked fine to him -- he has got a nearly identical wood burner to this one. So he helped me get it going, and voilà -- fire! So I will be nice and toasty warm this winter...

Following on from my previous post -- here's a taster of things to come -- my hens and ducks integrating nicely up at Bridget's...

Saturday, 18 October 2008

To keep you entertained and informed in the interval, Bridget will be posting news of my chickens and ducks here, as well as anything else that she thinks my readers may find of interest, and I will post news when and if I have it.

Sunday, 14 September 2008

Sorry for not having posted in ages. I have actually been away in America for a few weeks, but here are some photos from before I went -- nothing particularly exciting really -- just winding things down in the hopes that a buyer will come along soon...

These are the two baby cockerels and one of them is now in the freezer and the other in our tummies...

These three hens went across the lane to Bart and Mandy, and the rest of the chickens (as well as Del and Dewi) have gone to Jon and Bridget's, so it's a bit quieter around here now... Will try and take some photos of them all in their new homes if I get a chance.

And this is my rather pathetic tomato crop this year which Bart has been tending for me in my absence...

Tuesday, 19 August 2008

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

So I have been makingmyownbread for several years now, and I've never had a problem with bread going mouldy before. I have always used Allinson Dried Active Yeast except for a few times when I have made sourdough bread. Anyhow, the other day I knew I was out of yeast and I was in the shop and was in a bit of a hurry so I bought some Hovis Fast Action Yeast. The bread is reasonably tasty, although much less "crumbly" and better suited for slicing and sandwiches than my normal bread -- but now, I have just noticed -- it has gone mouldy!

I have had bread that got dry and hard and stale, but I have never had home-made bread go mouldy on me before. Suffice to say, it is stored in the same conditions as usual, etc. So I go to investigate and I notice that the yeast I bought contains "a blend of dried yeast and bread improvers." Methinks the improvers are the cause of the mould. Anybody else have this experience?

Tuesday, 1 July 2008

Sunday, 29 June 2008

I know this looks like a photo of a bunch of reeds, but if you look closely, you will see the little bantam hen in the middle of it. She vanished on Wednesday night, but was back Thursday morning for food -- and then vanished again. Yesterday I spotted her outside and went out and followed her -- I can only assume she is sitting on eggs as she hasn't moved from this spot since. Fingers crossed that the fox doesn't get her...

Wednesday, 18 June 2008

I have been saying for some time that I am going to spin the wool from the sheep, but, to be honest, I haven't got the time. There's now 6 fleeces from last year plus 8 from this year, and they take up a lot of space.

Spinning is going to have to wait for another day. The wool is getting sent off the the mill to be spun and to come back as yarn for knitting in 3-6 months...

Monday, 16 June 2008

The big exciting news today is that I finally managed to get glass cut for the windows for the shed:

In other news, Denzil, who used to live here, came by with some things from his greenhouse -- so I think I will be spending tomorrow transplanting and repotting things!

The peacock came to visit AGAIN (but I am not complaining because he is so beautiful!):

And, this one is a bit sad -- there have been some blackbirds nesting in the clematis on the front of the house, and we've been watching them fly back and forth and feel their little chicks -- and this afternoon, Shiva killed the daddy blackbird... Bad Shiva... AND, she has shown no remorse...

Wednesday, 4 June 2008

(I was hoping to actually put the video here, but unfortunately technology defeated me, so you will have to click the S4C link above, and download it yourself -- but if you are using the new version of RealPlayer, you will have the option to save it to your computer -- because it will only be up on the S4C site until next Wednesday! If anybody out there knows how to convert a *.ivr file to something useful, please get in touch...)

Thursday, 29 May 2008

Bart's peacock has spent nearly all day here -- not quite sure who or what he's trying to attract -- surely it can't be me!

And now for something slightly less spectacular -- I have made a window for the shed (yes, I know it's missing the glass). Bonus points to anybody who can correctly identify which of these two windows I made and which one Dave the builder made... :)

Thursday, 15 May 2008

The exciting news of the week is that we have some new sheep... A friend of ours is retiring from farming and although he has sold most of his sheep at mart, he wanted the last few to go to a good home (not quite sure if we qualify!) so here they are:

It will be an interesting experience having some sheep that are not Balwens...

In other news, Tony came to visit, and as you can see, he very much enjoyed feeding Sausage!